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largest (Warwick West) had 1,983 registered voters. This is a not unusual variation by United Kingdom
standards where the differences in size of constituenc-
ies reach the order of five to one. Nevertheless, it is clearly desirable that constituencies should contain, so far as is reasonably practicable, equal numbers of people qualified to register as electors. This will be one of the objectives of the Constituency Boundaries Commission who are due to submit their report next year.
You asked whether the Royal Commission of enquiry into last year's disturbances would be dealing with the question of capital punishment. The Commission's terms of reference are to enquire into the causes, including the contributory causes, of last December's disorders, to report their findings and to make recommendations, including recommendations that decisions be reached and
action taken within a reasonable time. The Commission
have recently completed nearly two months of public hearings during which an extremely wide range of con-
stitutional, political, social and economic issues were discussed and reported fully in the Bermuda press. The question of capital punishment was naturally one of them. Whether the Commission will be reporting and making recommendations on the death penalty in their final report, which is expected in a few months time,
will be for the Commission to decide. They will have
in mind that a Select Committee of the Bermuda House of
Assembly is examining the question of capital punishment and will be submitting its own report later this year.
On the more general question of capital punishment, it remains the Government's intention, as I said in the House of Commons on 5 December last year, to seek to
find out Parliament's view on the matter. But this is a
sensitive subject, and we have not yet decided when and how it would be best to raise it. We shall be reconsid-
ering the whole question at an appropriate time.
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